Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

I guess it's update time...

I was finally able to get the car on a lift once I took care of minor stuff like work for a couple weeks..

Bad news: Exploring in the rear wheelwells revealed too little usable volume to undartake foam molding and making custom reservoirs.

Good news: I decided I could install a 6 gallon, if not more, tank in the spare tire housing at the bottom of the trunk.

The deal is, I will either carry a can of tire sealant, or mount the spare under the car, in the spot vacated by the stock exhaust, or, get a Porsche type folding spare tire, and mount that under the car.. So far a can of tire sealant seems to be winning.

Anyway.. I cleared out the trunk, removed everything that would be in my way, and proceeded to cast plaster in there. Yes, plaster. A whole 65 pound bag of it...
Took about 6 gallons of water to mix it right, and I just lined the entire trunk area with two layers of thin plastic sheeting (I knew plaster would make a mother of a mess there) and dumped the whole bit in.
I taped around the cavities to prevent plaster entering and hardening in them, locking itself in.
I used simple and very cheap chicken wire, cut into roughly 8x12 pieces and laid them in as I poured to reinforce the plaster slab. Worked like a charm.
The weight of the plaster easily overcomes the thin plastic sheet and forms perfectly in the spare tire well.
Oh, I also used a bubble level to make sure the trunk area was perfectly level. My solution was to stack some scrap lumber and drive on them. Couple tries, and it was level.
I waited for more than three hours till the plaster cooled down (heats up when curing) and pulled it. Came up fairly easliy, but it was heavy as hell. Had I waited a day or so, it would have dried completely, and would be significantly lighter. Impatient I guess..
So, I have a perfect negative replica of the spare tire well on my work table now. All the details are there!
Next step will be getting a chunk of 3-4 mm thick thermoplastic sheeting and going to town on the plaster mold with a heat gun and thick gloves.
The bottom and the sides will be one piece, and it will have a flat top. It will have supports inside which will double as baffles.
I want to keep the jack in the stock location, so I am making an allowance for that, too.
Water outlet will be through one of the "trunk drain plug"s. There will be a smaller reservoir underneath the trunk to prevent the pump from cavitating during hard turns. The idea is, no matter how much the water may slosh in the large tank, the small one will always be full. There will be a level indicator, as well.
The filler neck:
Take PVC piping, fill with sand and cap both ends. Heat, bend till your heart's content, voila.. Run the fill pipe to the gas cap area, drill, install pipe, mount screw cap... Fill gas and water from the same spot.
Yes. I have been taking pictures. I need to load and edit them on the other computer, and the boss, I mean my wife is using it, trying to finish a project for the morning.
So, pics soon..

BTW, I will be using a mixture of ethanol and methanol mixed with 80 per cent water. It's called industrial alcohol around here. Anything else is strictly illegal and verboten big time. Like jail. Like infuckingcarceration for the buyer and the seller. That will work fine, from what I have researched.
Research: Having an hourlong conversation over coffee with the father in law who happens to be a chemical engineer.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I am liking this.

I'd been contemplating using the spare tire area as well, though my thoughts had been leaning more towards simply cutting the bottom out of it to simplify the fabrication of the tank. The plaster molding idea is brilliant, however, and I may have to steal that.

Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

Thanks..
I honestly did not have the ***** to cut into anything that could even be remotely structural in the car..
Granted, it would be far easier with a flat bottom..
I would like to use the maximum space availabe nonetheless.. The plaster cast will yield just that, the maximum volume. With the sloping sides and the odd shape, there would be too much wasted room there.

Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

Just realized I haven't posted any progress updates for a while.

I was in the process of adding the final touches to the water reservoir, and a had a slight mishap ("head on" is a mishap, too) with the armco at just over 100mph one night.

We (my wife was with me) both survived with no scratces, but the car looked waaay too sad to even consider any projects for a while.
So, I have been very busy getting the car back together.
Looks perfect now, and I should have it back in a couple of weeks (I hope).

I am definitely going to chase the WI project once the car is all nice and perfect again.

One more thing.. The doors opened and closed just as normal after the accident. Stout little car.

Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

Just got the car back a couple days ago, after 4 months and 10 days at the shop, after the accident.

I decided to scratch the spare tire tank idea. Too many disadvantages, too costly in terms of both time and effort.
(I have a gazillion pound plaster mold of the spare tire area, too.)

Anyway.

Another idea.
I thought I should not take up any trunk space for the water injection components. Not a lot of room there to begin with.
So, I looked around, and suddenly the cubby holes on both sides of the gas tank, which are accessible from the trunk, started looking very viable to me.
I measured the cavities, and they are identical.
Made a styrofoam block for a test fit, and found out I could easily carry 2 gallons of water there, even some of that space is taken up by my rear deck speakers.

There are no ready made containers I could get my hands on to fit there, so I decided to make my own.
Bought a 1.5x1 meter piece of PVC sheet for about 8 bucks. The sheet is about 1 mm thick, which is plenty.
I drew and cutout the shape, and proceeded to make the bends with a couple of quick clamps and rulers, and a heat gun.
The result is a very satisfying prototype.
There will be two tanks, and they will be connected via a 10 mm hose attached to plastic nipples mounted rearward, at the bottom.
There will be one more nipple on both tanks, at the top, connected to a 6 mm hose, to prevent airlock. those will both go to a tee and then terminate next to the fill tube.
The driver side tank will have larger 30 mm nipple at the top for the fill tube. I figured the larger the fill tube, the more capacity I will have, like the NASCAR guys do with their fuel cells.

All in all, The total volume comes to about 2.6 gallons.
I think that's plenty.

I ordered the 5 gallon progressive kit from AEM, and the 5 gal tank is way more that I would need unless I am on the track all day. (I ordered the 5 gal kit, because it has a bigger, more stout motor. And I got a killer deal on it, to boot.)

I will simply transfer the level sensor to my tank, and use that as a safeguard.
I also ordered 4 70 cc nozzles and the necessary T connections for a port injection setup.
The water pump goes under the plastic hole on the left side of the trunk.
Pics to come as things progress.

Below are the pics of the prototype tank. All measurements are in centimeters.

I am also thinking about a third reservoir. A long PVC pipe attached to both tanks, laying just in front of the gas tank, under the parcel shelf. There is room there, too.

Dust

I think a few people would be interested in buying a made to fit tank for water meth